Even Though
by TheFirstFangirl
Summary: Annabeth Chase never expected to find love in a fast food restaurant. Even though, she might end up doing just that. AU, One-shot.


**Summary: Annabeth Chase never expected to find love in a fast food restaurant. Even though, she might end up doing just that. AU, One-shot.**

**I realized that I never did put disclaimers in any of my fanfics so far... so...**

**I do not own ****_Percy Jackson and the Olympians_**** or ****_Heroes of Olympus_****, nor do I own any other copyrighted material that I may mention.**

**(That makes sense...right?)**

**"""**

Annabeth is scarfing down a burger at McDonald's when she notices him.

"Him" being a good-looking guy with dark hair and green eyes. He's staring at her so she quickly swallows the remainder of her burger and wipes her mouth. She doesn't want to look unattractive if she can help it the first time a male looks at her for more than a second, after all.

He must have taken that as an invitation, because he strides over to where Annabeth is sitting and plops down beside her.

"Hello," he says brightly.

She's confused, never having seen him before. He laughs, and, though she doesn't know why, it makes her want to laugh along with him. But she doesn't, of course.

"In case you're wondering, no, you don't know me," he answers the question that she wants to ask, with a smile. She thinks that his smile is just as contagious as his laugh. "My name is Percy," he continues. "And you?"

Annabeth knows that she probably shouldn't tell a stranger her name, but even though said stranger (she doesn't know if she should refer to him as "Percy" yet) _is_ quite strange, he does not seem dangerous. So she tells him that her name is Annabeth, and smiles at him because she just can't resist.

Percy's (she decides that since he now knows her name as well, it is only fair to think of him as who he introduced himself as) smile widens. "Pretty name," he states.

She blames the stirring in her stomach on the unhealthy food she had stuffed down her throat a few minutes before.

**"""**

Annabeth goes to McDonald's again the next day after school, because she's hungry and it is the closest place that serves food, _not_ because she's hoping that Percy will be there. Absolutely not.

She pushes the transparent door open, and, lo and behold, Percy is sitting in one of the red corner booths.

She wonders if she should approach him, and then decides that she should since he had come up to her the other day. Making a beeline for Percy's booth, she contemplates whether or not it would be a good idea to ask why he had even wanted to talk to her.

Once she reaches the smooth seat, she slides down next to him. He seems to notice her presence and he looks up to smile at her.

Annabeth fights to hold in her own smile, because would that seem too desperate? Too needy? "Hi," she says instead.

Percy laughs. "I saw you walking in. I didn't know if you would be willing to talk to a strange guy you just met yesterday."

"About yesterday," she starts, figuring that it was the perfect time to ask her question. "Why did you come up to me at all? I mean, I guess it was fine to have somebody to talk to, but why me?"

"Well, Annabeth," he says, and she likes the way her name sounds coming from his lips. "First of all, I wanted to talk to someone and you were the only other person here who was also alone. Secondly, you're beautiful. Any guy—and maybe even a few girls—would be crazy not to at least attempt to approach you." He states this so bluntly that Annabeth can't help but blush, even though she probably would have blushed anyway...

"And another thing," Percy continues, seemingly not noticing her cheeks heat up. "You're different." He doesn't elaborate and Annabeth doesn't ask him to, afraid that, if she did, her face would turn even redder.

She finally manages to downplay the redness of her cheeks, and inquires, "So what are we now? Friends? Just a couple of people who met in McDonald's?" She adopted a joking tone on the last part.

Percy simply says, "We can be whatever you want us to be, Annabeth."

**"""**

The next time Annabeth sees Percy is one week after they first met.

She hadn't gone to the fast food restaurant in several days, as the rest of the week before had been filled with homework and errands.

When she walks into McDonald's for the first time in almost a week, she spots Percy in the same booth he was in when she saw him last time. She starts making her way over to him, but frowns when she sees another person—a _girl_—sitting across from him.

The girl has bright red hair that is curly, much like Annabeth's, but she somehow makes it look much better than Annabeth could ever make _hers_ look. She is talking to Percy and then she says something that makes him laugh. Annabeth is mad, for some reason. She loves Percy's laugh, and, as ridiculous as it is, she's thought of it as _hers_ ever since she'd first heard it. His eyes light up and they get greener than ever, and he throws his head back, and his laugh is just so..._beautiful_.

She cringes. She sounds lovesick. She doesn't even _like_ him like that...does she? She'd only met him the week before, after all.

Just then, the girl with the red hair gets up and hugs Percy. She leaves through the door on the other side of the restaurant.

Percy just sits there for a few seconds and then he turns his head a fraction of an inch...and sees Annabeth. He smiles and starts to make his way over to her.

For the first time, she doesn't return his smile. Even though she wants to talk to him—she really does—she somehow makes herself believe that she doesn't.

She turns and runs.

**"""**

Annabeth is lying down on her bed after school, contemplating everything that has something to do with Percy. She hadn't gone to McDonald's in a little less than a month. She knows it's stupid to avoid Percy when all she wants to do is the opposite, but she couldn't bring herself to meet up with him.

Every time he calls or texts her—they had exchanged phone numbers during their second meeting—she just tell him that she's busy. He probably doesn't believe her claims, but he doesn't say anything about it, and Annabeth is grateful for that. She needs some time to think.

She sighs. She knows that she is acting like a stereotypical, lovesick teenage girl. She couldn't believe that one random red-haired girl, who could have been Percy's _cousin_, for goodness' sake, had caused all of this. And it wasn't even a planned thing!

Annabeth's phone buzzes, alerting her of a new text message. She picks it up and unlocks the screen. It's from Percy.

**Percy: i havnt seen u in 4evr annie. can u come 2day? same place. i miss u :( **

She smiles fondly at the text. Usually, she gets a bit annoyed when people don't use good grammar and spelling, even in text messages. But when Percy does it, she actually thinks that it's sort of cute.

Then she frowns. No one could call her "Annie", not even Percy.

Her phone buzzes again.

**Percy: srry i meant Annabeth.**

Another smile replaces her frown. Her fingers hover over the keypad of her phone. She's tired of avoiding Percy, but she doesn't know if she would even know what to say to him.

She makes up her mind and sends him a text.

**Annabeth: I'll be there in 10.**

**"""**

Before she leaves her house, Annabeth sends Percy another text.

**Annabeth: I miss you too. And don't call me Annie.**

He replies with a happy face and a "yes ma'am", and Annabeth doesn't think that she could be any happier.

Because even though she may deny it, she misses a lot more than he probably knows.

**"""**

**A/N: WHEE. SO. This is just a one-shot that I randomly thought up while trying to write the second chapter of ****_The Star That Led Me To You_****. I know it's been more than a week since I updated it, so sorry about that, but I'll try to get it up sometime within the next two or three days. :)**


End file.
